Acquisition
by Natascope
Summary: AU. Voldemort was never defeated in 1981 and took over the Wizarding World. Twenty-three years later, Hermione works for the Ministry, keeping magic a secret from Muggles.


I do not own Harry Potter.

* * *

A/N: This is for Season IV of the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Round 08.

Team & Position: Caerphilly Catapults, Chaser 1.

Base Prompt: Voldemort!wins. What happens to the Muggleborn?

Optional Prompt: #04 (word) revolution.

Optional Prompt: #10 (quote) "It's my turn to show you a sight you've never seen before" - Haruka Nanase, _Free!_

Optional Prompt: #13 (object) Time Turner

* * *

"Harmony!" A man's voice bellowed from inside the nearby office. "Get yer ass in here!"

Hermione internally sighed. She had been assigned to the Muggle Liaison Office straight out of Hogwarts. With her perfectly average grades and lack of an adoptive family, the job at the Ministry was the only way in which she could repay the debt owed for her magical schooling. After spending seven years in the group, she was the highest ranking member of the rank-and-file; and she only had another seven years left on her debt before she would be considered paid in full. Then, she would finally see the money that she was earning and would be able to live outside the Mudblood dormitories.

The only nice thing about the Muggle Liaison Office was that almost no one wanted to be associated with it. The office workers were required to keep an eye on what the Muggles were doing so that they could effectively ensure that no trace of the Wizarding World could be found. Ever since Lord Voldemort had taken charge, the Statute of Secrecy had been strictly maintained: unless explicitly authorized by the Ministry—like the MLO—those with magic could not contact those without. This included the Muggleborns—or as they were now known, the Mudbloods.

The new Pureblood boss, Baldric Bardolph, was a complete wanker, not that she could ever tell him so. Like every Pureblood before him, he felt the need to leave his mark on the group. Most of the Purebloods put in charge of the Muggle Liaison Office were promoted within six months of taking the position. The MLO was easily the most detested group within the DMLE, if not the Ministry. Besides the department head, the group was staffed entirely by Mudbloods; no self-respecting member of the Pureblood elite would stoop to learning enough about Muggles to be able to cover up any lapses. Due to a Ministry regulation that only Purebloods could be department heads, every six months saw a new Pureblood, fresh to the Ministry, cycled into the office. They would arrive and make some change, thereby showing valuable leadership skills. A few months later, the promotion would come down, often moving them into the Auror department.

With the churn of management, someone had to take up running the more permanent staff. Due to her seniority and patience, that task ended up falling to Hermione. She was the only one that could seem to stomach working with whatever wanker the Ministry had assigned to the group.

Shaking her head to free her thoughts, Hermione made her way into the office to see what the latest fire was about. Last time, the boss had needed tea for an important meeting.

"There you are," Bardolph said. "You're joining Flint's SSE team in five for their latest acquisition." Of the Statute of Secrecy Enforcement teams, Flint's was the most likely to use violent means of acquiring the future witch or wizard. As much as she hated it, a violent acquisition usually meant less paperwork for the MLO. However, Flint's team also tended to draw unwanted attention from those surrounding the target.

"Sir?" Hermione asked.

"As the new department head, some changes are going to be made 'round here. You're all going to be more proactive—going with teams in order to deal with issues as they arise rather than after they occur. This _will_ lead to fewer problems in the field. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," Hermione said. She forced a meekness into her voice as she brought up her concern about working more closely with the the SSE teams. "However, we don't have this kind of field experience as our group has never gone with the teams directly, we usually deal with the Muggles after the fact."

"And I feel that the number of incidences that the MLO has to deal with are unacceptably high. You'll go along with Flint's team and do your job; otherwise you will see an additional year added to your debt to this Ministry," Bardolph spat at her.

"Yes, sir."

"Now git. I won't have you holding Flint's team back."

Hermione briefly stopped at her desk to grab her bag. It contained everything she might need for her venture out into the Muggle world—a change of clothing, identification, and money. She rushed into the loo to change before hurrying to the other end of the floor. Standing in front of the door to the SSE staging area, she paused, running a hand through her hair as she took a deep breath to calm her nerves. She had made it just inside the five minute window given to her by Bardolph. Opening the door, she found Flint's SSE team was already present, with Flint himself waiting at the front of the briefing room. The man was sneering at her as she closed the door quietly and moved to stand at the back of the room.

"You're late, Mudblood," Flint said. "I don't know why Bardolph is saddling you with us, but he got the brass to sign off on it. Stay out of our way out there and there shouldn't be any _accidents_."

Keeping her eyes on the ground, Hermione kept her voice soft as she replied, "Yes, sir."

"All right, team! We've done this before, we'll do this again. Our goal this time is one…" Flint looked down at the paperwork in front of him. "…Linne Reddell. Age 7. She has an older brother and sister, neither have shown any indication of magic and should be considered Muggles, just like the parents." Here Flint smiled. "There's one for each of us. Knowles, put our names in the hat for target selection."

The team went on to select who in the target family each team member would get to "deal with". The SSE teams could deal with the Muggles in the household using whatever method best suited their skill set, so long as they got the magical child out of the house. Flint's team specialized in a breaking and entering gone wrong, leading to the death of the entire family. Other common tactics included framing the parents for murder, kidnapping the child, or Obliviating the family of the magical child's existence. Regardless, the MLO was left to smooth over any issues with the Muggles. For the upcoming mission, it was sounding like that smoothing over would be along the lines of convincing the Muggles that the child had been among the casualties.

With the SSE team's assignments settled, Flint had everyone gather around the old shoe that would be acting as the portkey to the destination. With the activation phrase, "acquisition," the team set out to bring the little girl "home."

* * *

Standing on the front step of a cute bungalow, Hermione waited for Flint's team to finish their work. She was grateful that they had allowed her to put up a silencing charm around the building. She had then been instructed to stay outside to stop any Muggle interference. The front door was open a crack as she pulled out a fake cigarette—it lit up and produced smoke, but didn't contain any of the harmful chemicals. It was a common enough occurrence to see someone step out for a smoke that it provided a decent cover for her loitering outside the home.

As she got to the end of the cigarette, she saw four figures dressed in black with white masks appear in the middle of the street. The sight of the robed figures was one that every Ministry employee was required to know by heart: the Order of the Phoenix had arrived. She threw the cigarette down, crushing it beneath the sole of her foot while slowly pulling out her wand. The lead figure moved up the front walk, approaching her.

The black robe that the figure wore hung loosely around their frame. The mask was full-faced, with pointed ears sticking out the side. The hood of the cloak was made of the same black material as the robes, and was pulled up, placing the mask in shadow even in the bright afternoon sun. Twinkling brown eyes peeked out through twin holes in the mask. A twisted grin was painted on, but there were no holes for either nose or mouth present.

"Good afternoon, my little songbird," the lead figure said in a light baritone.

Hearing that voice caused Hermione to shudder. She knew this Order member and had encountered him before. "Puck," Hermione said. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" The man known as Puck had been at the top of the Ministry's most wanted list for the last two years.

"I was just about to ask you the same thing, songbird. A bit early to this party, aren't you?" he asked.

"New boss," she said simply.

"Ah, yes. Our good friend Mr. Bardolph. Funny story. Did you know that you, with your average grades, did better than him in school before the Pureblood curve?" The man chuckled to himself before the twinkling eyes disappeared. The shadow of the hood had somehow darkened his face further. "While I do appreciate chatting with you, songbird, I'm going to need you to stand aside."

"You know I can't do that, Puck. When I started at the Ministry, I took a vow. While maybe not everyone takes that seriously, I do."

"I was afraid you would say that, songbird," Puck said through a sigh. "I won't go easy on you if you stand in my way."

Hermione grimaced. "I wouldn't expect you to." She quickly stepped back through the front door, putting her on the other side of her silencing spell. The interior of the house was quiet. Either Flint's team was finished, or they were taking a break. "Flint! The Order's here!" Hermione yelled as she slammed the door shut, putting up a shield between her and it as she moved further into the house. The shield proved wise as the door blew apart, shards of it bouncing off her shield. The force of the blows caused her to tumble into the living room.

Her ears ringing, Hermione stumbled to her feet with her wand out in front of her. Puck and the Order had entered the house.

"Let's move!" Puck yelled out as he stepped into the Living room, wand drawn, to face Hermione.

Sensing his intention, Hermione dove to the side as a yellow light flashed past her. If there was one thing Puck was good at, it was silent casting. She had met Puck at wand point before. While she knew that she was no match for the man, she also knew that she would be questioned on her performance here and would need to do her best to stop him.

" _Expulso. Diffindio. Expelliarmus. Confringo. Incarcerous._ " Hermione rattled off a series of spells as quickly as she could. For each spell she cast, Puck cast a single spell silently back. The two spells would collide in the air and both would dissipate into nothingness. After the last spell in the series, Hermione had made it to a swinging door. Pushing through it, she found herself in a small dining room, near a table surrounded by five chairs. With a grin, she transfigured the chairs into dogs that would attack her adversary.

The dogs were standing around the table, watching the swinging door with her, waiting for Puck to come through. Hermione was suddenly thrown to the side, crashing into the wall before crumpling to the floor. As she picked herself up, she caught sight of her attack dogs exploding into wooden fragments that were then blasted down the hallway toward the now-missing front door.

"Songbird, you need to remember your flanks. There's a hallway right here, but you were concentrating on the door you came through."

Hermione gritted her teeth, attempting to hide a display of frustration in dealing with Puck. Ever since their first encounter, she had been attempting to learn something that would allow for her to beat the smug man. While she was by no means confident in her most recent spell, she put on a false bravado, smirking at him. "I think it's time I show you something new," she said before casting. _"Sectumsempra_."

The dark spell moved quickly towards her attacker. Puck's wand shot out and the spell stopped on the tip of it. He held his wand up, examining the spell she had cast. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, songbird. This here is Dark Magic. What's a pretty thing like you doing casting something like this?" Hermione sat watching the display in silent awe. "The spell looks a little off. I think you mistimed the flick in the middle. Try waiting a heartbeat longer and you should see noticeable improvement," Puck said. His analysis finished, he flicked his wand and the spell destroyed the swinging door.

Puck focused his gaze on Hermione. "It's my turn to show you something you've never seen before," he said as he jabbed his wand in her direction.

She quickly threw out a shield and watched as a slow-moving spell approached her. The spell changed between every color of the rainbow as it crawled its way forward. The changes didn't follow any set pattern, moving quickly between colors at random. As it splashed harmlessly against her shield, she felt a spell hit her from the side. Very quickly, she started having trouble breathing. Becoming light-headed from an inability to get enough air into her lungs, she collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Like I said, songbird, you need to watch your flanks," Puck said in a sad voice. "The spell will knock you unconscious soon. When you wake up, you'll have a killer headache, but if you hurry, you may be able to save some of the team that you came with today." Puck stood up and looked down at Hermione from what seemed a great height. "Good night, songbird." Her gasps rattled in her ears before she finally passed out.

* * *

"Why do you bother with her?" Behir asked as Puck joined him in the hallway leading out of the house.

"She's a victim of the Ministry as much as anyone, and she has not yet fallen completely under their spell. She can still be saved." Puck said as they stepped over the splinter-filled body of an SSE team member.

"You say that, but she cast Dark Magic at you tonight," Behir said.

"The asphyxiation spell I used on her could hardly be considered Light, Behir."

In the front lawn stood a small, blond-haired girl. Puck kneeled down in front of her and looked her directly in the eyes, "My name's Puck, what's yours?"

The girl stared at the robed figure in front of her, tear streaks evident on her cheeks. "L-L-Linne," she managed to choke out.

"Well, Linne, we need to get you away from all this. Do you have any Aunts or Uncles?" he asked.

The girl shook her head.

"What about grandparents?"

She shook her head some more, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Is there anyplace you would like me to take you?" he asked softly.

"Home," the young girl whispered as she broke down sobbing, grabbing onto Puck's robes and holding close. Holding the girl for comfort, he turned slightly to look at Behir and said, "I'll take care of her. Bring her to a friend's house or something. As far as the Muggles are concerned, she'll have gotten lucky. Due to her age, she should be kept out of the papers and should be safe. You go on ahead."

Behir nodded before Disapparating with an audible pop.

Sitting on the front lawn, holding the girl close, Puck pulled a small hourglass out of his pocket before placing the chain around both his and the young girl's necks. He needed to establish a story. It would be best if no one knew that she had been present when her family was murdered. With a swish of his wand, he removed the girl's memories of the last couple hours. Then, with a flick of his finger, the hourglass spun for two revolutions before locking in place, causing the pair to disappear and leave the front lawn empty.

A calm settled into the afternoon air, displacing the previous frantic activity in the bungalow. It would be another hour before the silence on the street would be interrupted by the sound of approaching sirens.


End file.
